A New Path

by Xander Jade

  "Good to meet you, Sasha."

  She smiled and stated, "It is very nice to meet you as well Max. Leena here has told me that you and your group helped her find us."

  "Well, we were at the right spot at the right time." Not wanting to reveal that Reap and Herc found them.

  She continued, "Not sure what Leena has told you, but let me introduce the ones behind me. Shalia, Lashane, Elwin, and Pelleus." She pointed to each one in turn then turned back to us. "We come from the Nokogar Grove, a forest outside the border of Ashona in Laohone."

  I bowed my head and introduced my girls, then asked, "Is there something we can do for you?"

  She was hesitant and after a few moments finally spoke her question. "We were on our way to Silvershore to get supplies and to trade in goods. My mate and the parents of the young ones behind me were killed when the slavers caught us. We have discussed our predicament and don’t want to go back home, it holds too many memories, good and bad. Do you know of anyone that has land with a forest in or around the borders that we could live in? ."

  Thinking about their dilemma for a minute with ideas rolling around in my head, I replied, "Well, we have lots of trees around our land. If you guys want to see if that is what you’re looking for, then follow us."

  Elwin spoke out then, "Are you sure, sir? We don’t want to be a burden." The others looked hopeful.

  I shrugged and looked at the girls, they just smiled and waited for my decision. Staring and scrutinizing them one by one, I couldn’t tell how old they were. Hell, an elf that is considered middle-aged is anywhere between 750-1000 years old, but still looks the same as a thirty year old. Wasn’t going to ask them anything about their ages though.

  "Okay, probably stupid question, but can you guys hunt and cook, the normal survival skills?"

  They smiled and nodded. Sasha giggled. "Yes Max, we can take care of ourselves." Their group smiled at her statement.

  "Do you need to go back and get any possessions, clothes? What about coin?"

  They looked down at that question, Sasha answered, "No. Our coin was taken when we were captured and any possessions that we had aren’t worth going back for."

  At least we found some elves with manners, usually you have to deal with the haughty ones that think their shit don’t stink. Come to think of it, it’s the high elves that are the most arrogant.

  With curiosity I asked, "Are you guys related?"

  Lashane answered my question first, "Shaila is my sister, Pelleus is our cousin."

  Sasha responded, "I am the mother of Elwin and of course, Leena.

  "Alright, we only have three horses. Sasha, Shaila, Leena, and Lashane, two of you will double up with Cass and Val, the other two will ride on Zeus. Elwin and Pelleus will walk with me and my furry friends."

  Sasha smiled broadly with poorly hidden enthusiasm, "Thank you so much! We really appreciate this opportunity Max."

  "Don’t mention it. It’s not really anything to thank me for, let’s load up."

  They followed us over to Zeus, Abby, and Lilly, loaded up and started off. The females hit it off almost immediately, I was friendly to Elwin and Pelleus, but was trying to make sure no creature or brigand would get the jump on us. Although, Herc and Reap were with us, nothing was going anywhere near our group.

  The elven girls discussed their back story and how they got captured. My girls did the same and gave the tale of how we met, then moved in with me. Cass brought up magic at some point, I instantly started listening in.

  "Sasha, we saw each of you had collars on. You have the talent for magic?"

  She smiled and replied, "You are correct, Cassie. Leena and I are healers, Elwin is an earth mage, like his father was."

  Lashone also responded, "Shaila and I are beast mages, Pelleus is a water mage.

  Sasha answered, "They are young and just starting to get control of the magic that is within them. They were pupils of the Taltaru College of Magic before this whole disaster. Now, I will have to continue their tutelage even though we’re not of the same sphere of magic."

  I nodded and asked, "Sphere of magic?"

  Cass replied automatically, "Yeah, we haven’t gotten that far yet with our lessons, Max. Magic is split up into different factions. We went over the elemental spheres: fire, earth, air, water, which are the most common. Other spheres are mind, light, dark, nature, and void. The mind sphere is somewhat rare and includes illusion, telekinesis, and telepathy. Light is the sphere that paladins use, an enchanted weapon or a spell that their god or goddess has bestowed on them. Dark magic is necromancy, warlocks, and blood magic. Nature includes beast, healing, life, and forest magic. Last, but not least, void magic. This is an extremely rare form of magic, it houses teleportation and shadow magic."

  "What is shadow magic?"

  The women thought about my question and didn’t really want to talk about it, at least that’s what I got from the silence.

  After almost a minute, Sasha asked, "Cassie, may I answer that?" She nodded and the wood elf took a deep breath. "Shadow magic is when your body is basically in between two different realms, our realm and theoretically in the void or the alternate realm as some call it. From what our scholars say, this mage can shift into pure shadow or an animal engulfed by shadow, also called a shadow-were. They can move through shadows or shadow-walk as some say, and the mage can basically disappear. Now this is all hearsay, no one alive can tell you how it really works. There hasn’t been a known mage of this sphere in existence for at least ten millennia.

  I immediately asked, "How do I become one of them?"

  Cass sighed and answered, "Sorry Max, that sphere is impossibly rare."

  "Oh well, today I learned this world houses many different types of mages."

  Sasha smiled and stated, "Yes, some of those like Cass said are rare, our clan was mostly made up of either elemental or nature magic."

  We traveled a ways before anyone said a word, lost in our thoughts. We didn’t get back to our lands until late that day, as we came upon the outskirts I spoke to my duo, "Guys, go hunt. I’ll see you in a bit." They huffed and ran off, excited for the hunt, then explained to the elves where my lands started and ended. A debate started off where they would seek shelter for the next couple of days, which Cass also added the boundaries of the three races that were near us.

  Sasha stated warily, "You’re that close to Laohone? Any problems from them?" The others around were worried as well.

  "No, they haven’t been here or I would’ve known nor have they sought conversation." The girls agreed with my assessment.

  The wood elves visibly relaxed and Leena stated, "We're hoping not to put you into a bind if they see us over here. Those haughty elves don’t like to mingle with humans, even going as far to tell other elven races to not associate with them."

  I chuckled, "Let them say something. I will have them talk to my furry duo or even Zeus if he’s near." He snorted and nodded which set off giggles by everyone especially the beast mages.

  "Thanks for letting us within your woods, Max. We will keep out of sight and no one will be able to come near you unless you allow it," Elwin advised in a professional way.

  I nodded to them as we continued on to our home, the women were still talking as it came into view. Sasha gasped at our gardens, "You’re a farmer?" The girls giggled, I just shrugged.

  "It isn’t just a vegetable garden, it also contains herbs and plants for healing properties."

  Leena responded quickly, "You know how to heal people, Max?"

  I nodded and replied, "Yes, not by magic of course, but by herbs. My mother is an herbalist in the town I grew up and taught me what I know."

  Leena and Sasha glanced at each other, the mother stated hesitantly, "That’s good to know. Would you be able to bestow some of your knowledge to us? We know some of the basics and with our mana it isn’t needed very often, but if we needed something quick when our mana runs out, it could save someone or at least give us time for our magic to replen
ish."

  "Yes ma’am, Cass and Val want to learn as well."

  "Thank you. If we can help with anything, just let us know," she said with a smile.

  We stopped at the barn and everyone dismounted, the women took it upon themselves to lead the horses to their stalls. Three of the females took their gear off and brushed them down, while the other three fed them. Elwin and Pelleus got buckets and asked where the water came from, I pointed out the pump and they went to fill the troughs with clean water as I sat back and watched, deep in thought. We’ve only had Zeus and the others for a couple days, it would seem that a corral was needed to be built. Other thoughts ran through my mind as well, a few dairy cows and maybe some chickens. Fresh eggs and milk sounded good. I would need to build more stalls and a chicken pen, but it’s doable with the money we got from the hideout.

  A female voice called out, "Max?"

  I turned to see the others watching me, Cass asked, "You okay?"

  Nodding I responded, "Yep. Just thinking about adding a few stalls for dairy cows and a pen for chickens. Fresh eggs and milk. What do you think girls?"

  Cass and Val smiled, then nodded. Cass sighed, "We’ve just been so busy lately, not taking the time to actually think about those things, but since we have guests now, it would help out with essential nourishment."

  "Yes, with the garden coming along, it would be great to have for breakfast or to mix in with meals. Sounds great, Max," Val responded.

  "Alright, also going to have to build a corral for Zeus and his women, then get some material for a chicken coop."

  "We will help with those projects, sir. It would give us something to do, the girls could help with the gardens as well," Pelleus suggested, the elves all nodded when I glanced over to them.

  Smiling I replied, "That would be awesome, but don’t think you have to do that."

  Sasha stated, "Yes we do Max. We aren’t going to be here without earning our keep."

  Finally accepting their words, though Sasha gave me a raised brow and defiant look that said ‘Just agree, you won’t win this argument,’ nodded to them and went out to the water pump to clean up some before settling down for the night. The girls took the females of our guests and went to the cabin, got some extra clothes for them and went to the creek to hopefully wash the last few weeks of dirt and grime off. I took the guys with me to get the cook stove fired up, pulled some meat from the cool room and made a mental note to go hunting since we had others around. Cutting up the venison into steaks, I tenderized them and rubbed some paprika, cumin, and salt on the steaks for some flavor. Placing the steaks on the metal grate, I grabbed a pot, cut up some potatoes, celery, onions, and carrots, then threw the veggies into the pot with salt and poured in some water. I was going to make soup or at least attempt to, seeing my mother do this many times I thought to try it out. The guys watched the sizzling steaks and turned them when needed, I placed the pot on the grate and waited with them. We made small talk until the girls came in, prattling on about something. Cass and Val came over to kiss me on the cheek and got the table ready for dinner.

  After the steaks and soup were done, we placed the steaks on some plates and left the soup warming on the grate, after everyone got a helping. Dinner turned out to be tasty and actually got compliments on the food. During the meal, Cass blurted out that our guests could sleep in the cabin. Thinking over her assumption, I didn’t say anything, just went on eating, they could figure that out. That didn’t last long, the girls weren’t going to let me off that easy.

  "Max?" I looked up to see who said my name, the whole table was looking at me.

  "Yeah?" Still not knowing who disturbed my meal, Cass spoke, "Babe, can you grab some bedrolls out of the barn, Pelleus and Elwin are going to sleep in the loft after washing up in the creek. The ladies will share the beds since we have three bedrooms."

  Nodding to them, I got up to do what was asked. Heading to my secret entrance, the one that will only let others in if they’re touching me, we left our bedrolls there because no one would be able to get to them. I browsed the area, not remembering if it stored the material for the chicken coop, went around for a few minutes and found what was needed. The wire and roofing was there, but would need to cut down some timber for the housing. Thinking about the corral, I will need timber for that as well. Shrugging those thoughts away, I went back to the cabin to find the two male elves waiting on the porch.

  "Here you go guys, the loft should have some hay to sleep on."

  "No problem Max, we were planning to sleep on the ground tonight anyway, this is better," Elwin advised as he took the bedrolls. Pelleus nodded and they walked away. Watching them for a few moments, my ears picked up noise from the east, I saw Herc and Reap lying in the grass watching the forest. Nodding to them, my feet carried me back into the cabin to see if the girls needed help cleaning up. The area in question had all the ladies cleaning up, guess they didn’t need my help after all. Giggling and whispering was all that was heard from them, not wanting to know what was being said, I walked over to my room to clean my blades. Pulling the small arsenal off my body, I grabbed some linseed oil and applied a thin layer over the blades, then set them on a linen rag upon the dresser. When I was done cleaning my blades: knives, daggers, and sword I put away my cleaning materials and turned around to head outside to check on things, but lots of females were blocking my way.

  "All done, hon?" Cass smiled as she asked her question.

  Before my mouth could speak any words, the elves gaped at me.

  "Damn Max, you got enough weapons?" Sasha inquired while looking over at my collection on the dresser.

  I smiled and responded, "You can never have too many."

  Cass and Val snickered at the female elves. Leena questioned in a low voice, "Are you expecting trouble here?"

  "No ma’am, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. You ladies will be gaining knowledge on how to use those in the coming weeks, I’m assuming your clan could use the bow, but will be able to use blades as well."

  Wide-eyed the girls around only nodded.

  "What’s up ladies? Need anything?"

  Cass replied, "No babe, just letting them know where everything is. Everybody is exhausted and will head to bed shortly."

  I nodded, kissed them on the cheek and walked outside. Scanning the area, I tried to locate anything out of the ordinary, nothing was out tonight, so went back inside to let my girls know I was sleeping in the barn. Things were quiet inside the cabin and stepped silently to my room knowing the girls should be in there. Walking into the room, I saw the girls whispering to themselves on the bed.

  "Ladies, I will see you in the morning. I’m beat and need some rest."

  I started turning when Val called out, "Where do you think you’re going?"

  Turning back I replied, "I will head to the barn, with the others."

  Cass and Val shook their heads. Cass responded, "No you’re not sir. Your butt will be in between us in this bed."

  Looking at them for a minute, the looks they were giving told me I shouldn’t argue. "Okay." I stripped and got into bed, hoping for some rest. The girls blew out the candles, got undressed, and climbed into bed too. Closing my eyes, I was drifting off to la-la land when I felt hands on both my thighs. Eyes popping open, I waited, the girls moved around trying to not make much noise. Massaging my thighs, Cass started stroking my cock, Val nibbled on my ear and neck.

  I smiled and whispered, "You girls need to stop or our guests will be woken up by noises they may not want to hear."

  Val responded in a murmur, "That’s okay babe, I’m sure they know what can happen in someone’s home. Especially since the females like what their male does to them."

  Cass laughed softly, "Yep, although I don’t plan on not getting what I want, it’s been long enough. My pussy aches to be filled."

  The girls giggled and went back to work. Val grabbed my face and kissed me, Cass went down on me. A couple minutes of this, Val stopped and whispered in my ear, "It�
��s time love, I’m ready."

  "Okay."

  Cass stopped and waited, holding my cock up; Val pulled the covers back and shimmied down to straddle me. Taking a deep breath, she lowered herself onto me. Val stayed still for a few moments at the halfway point before shuddering as she bottomed out, having a mini orgasm. I started to speak but got only a sound out before she cut me off.

  "Don’t talk, just make love to me." I nodded and got to work, kneading her breasts and sucking on them tirelessly. Breathing heavily, she worked herself up and down on my long swollen cock, her juices flowing profusely, and I was rewarded for my effort with cries of pleasure when I bit down on her nipple. Her pussy was tight, but she kept impaling herself at a fast pace and screamed out as her orgasm hit.

  Cass not wanting to be left out, straddled my head and lowered her wet pussy onto my mouth, I dove right in; kissing, licking, and nibbling. Minutes later, Cass cried out in pleasure when I was sucking on her clit, and she ended up spraying me with her fluids. Cleaning her up with my tongue, I kept going until she had two more orgasms. Cass a little overstimulated, fell off to the side and watched Val work my cock, who was panting again at the brink of another orgasm. A few minutes later, she wailed out in pleasure. Her pussy shot out fluid all over my cock and thighs, which ended up onto the bed. She fell onto my chest, and took deep breaths while coming down from her bliss. Her eyes opened and smiled, then got off to lay beside me. Cass spying my cock still hard, slinked over and devoured my cock with her mouth, cleaning our combined fluids. I moaned, which made her go faster for a couple of minutes before she let my cleaned cock out of her mouth, she held onto my junk as she hopped up on me then slammed her pussy down onto my rod of steel. Moaning loudly, probably waking up the forest around us, she went at a fast pace. Sounds of skin on skin slapping against each other filled the room. She kept her relentless pace up for a few minutes before screaming out her pleasure, this finally made me shoot out my white gold deep into her drooling pussy. Cass fell on top of me, I could feel the juices flowing out of her, landing on me and the bed. Falling over to the side, she was sweating profusely; I pulled her to me and wrapped my left arm around her. Val came up on the other side, I wrapped my other arm around her.